Enlightenment doesn’t have to be DULL! Irreverent to the core, this pagan podcast dances on the athame’s edge, blurring the line between sacred and profane! Rules — who needs ‘em?

Hail and welcome! It's Yule time on Eat My Pagan Ass. The trees are lit up with lights, gifts strewn below. The longest night approaches, and day is to be reborn. As we gather in with one another, fending off the winter blues and lonely, cold nights, we revel in the light of the human spirit, and find joy in one another's company. Now is the time of song and story telling, of promises and hope. A new day dawns, and we spiral inward to find the spark of light and carry it outward once more.

Death of Baldur

In this episode, I chat about community and the importance of coming together to honor ourselves and our spiritual path. I also give a reading of the the tale of the Death of Baldur, written by yours truly. In between I play some seasonal ROCKIN PAGAN MUSIC sung by Grailwood high priestess, Selkie Lyrazel ("The Snow Queen"). Brew yourself some mulled wine, or heat your spiked eggnog, pull up a chair by the fire, and let me carry you away back through time to an ancient place where ice and darkness ruled and where the gods and giants were very much alive. Featured musical artists: Silkie O-Ishi and Vincent Moschello - "The Snow Queen" Rija (Aija-Riitta Holopanien) - "Nordic" Rija (Aija-Riitta Holopanien) - "Tuoltapa Näkkyy" Sound Effects Library - "Ambience, Drama - Airy Ambient Drone with Heavy Low End, Horror Horror & Haunted Ambiences" Bjørn A. Løken, Christian Eggen, Kjell Samkopf, Rob Waring & Einar Fjærvoll - "Third Construction" from John Cage in Norway Anonymous 4 - "Grene Growith the Holy" Recorded Dec. 16, 2012 Published Dec. 17, 2012 + + + Email us at eatmypaganass@gmail.com. Friend us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/EatMyPaganAssPodcast Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/EatMyPaganAss Donate to us via PayPal to eatmypaganass@gmail.com THANK YOU FOR LISTENING! BLESSED BE, BITCHES!

Courtney Weber, high priestess of the Novices of the Old Ways coven in New York City, a non-tradition based, fellowship-oriented Pagan spiritual community, and co-creator of the Tarot of the Boroughs, a photographic journey through the Tarot using modern New York City settings and notable community personalities, joins Luckylicious for the 2012 Samhain episode of "Eat My Pagan Ass" podcast.

Courtney Weber and Luckylicious at NYC Pagan Pride Day 2012

Originally scheduled to be published before October 31, Superstorm Sandy had different ideas. Well, better late than never. This episode is chock full of Samhainy goodness. And coming just ahead of the 2012 U.S. presidential elections, includes quite a bit of politics from a Pagan perspective (well, from a couple of Pagans' perspectives, anyway). Courtney shares her story of how she came to Paganism (or, how Paganism came to her), and describes Progressive Wicca and how this spiritual and religious philosophy informs the activities of the Novices of the Old Ways.

And just to keep Samhain super-scary, Courtney warns of the dangers of hydrofracking and the attempts of the Spectra Energy Corporation to bring hydrofracked gas into Manhattan via a pipeline that is planned to run under the West Village and other densely populated areas. And it's not just Manhattan -- hydrofracked gas is going to come your way, too, unless you stop it by calling your U.S. senators and congressional representatives and your state governor and demand that they refuse to allow hydrofracking and its products in your state. If you're a New York State resident, call Governor Cuomo TODAY at (518) 474-8390. To learn more about hydrofracking, check out the Sane Energy Project. Oh, and BLESSED SAMHAIN, kiddies!

One of my dearest friends, Yust Lundberg, aka The Faerie King, perhaps the least but not least important among his many other monikers, agreed to share parts of his amazing life story with you. It's his birthday, so wish him a happy one!

Your lucky host, Lucky, got a rare opportunity to record this ephemeral man and share it with you. Yust, The Faerie King (and regent of The Gossamer Court, an affiliation of spiritually inspired artists devoted to healing through art), tells us a little bit about his past, his vision, and the future in this wondrous episode of Eat My Pagan Ass. Here's a string of things discussed in this episode:

So I'm looking through my Facebook friends' friends and I come across this total hottie witch named Gede Parma. Shameless gay Leo that I am, I immediately reached out and invited Gede (pronounced g'DAY) to be on the show. Much to my delight, he accepted and fast forward several months into the future to July 12, 2012, the date finally arrived! When this magically delicious Aussie sauntered into my lion's den it took all my self restraint not to offer him one of my famous back massages. Instead, I humbly begged his forgiveness for my not being able to find my high-quality audio recorder and instead had to settle for recording this interview on my iPhone. (Siri interrupted one of the questions, and she's been put in time out.)

In this interview, Gede shares with us how he came to paganism (well, was born into it by some definitions), how it's shaped his outlook on life, and why he's inspired to share his insights with others through his several published books and workshops. He challenges the idea of sacred space as separate space, and refuses to admit the idea of the solitary witch in an infinitely interconnected cosmos. The magical is the mundane (M=m), and from this point of constant connection to the divine we can be in this world here and now and effect positive change through conscious awareness and activism.

Gede also discusses his books, including his latest, "Ecstatic Witchcraft: magic, philosophy & trance in the shamanic craft," which is available through Llewellyn Worldwide and pretty much any bookshop. You can also learn more about this fascinating and very charming young pagan teacher at www.gedeparma.com. And try to catch him while he's still in the U.S. doing his book tour through the end of July 2012!!

Most pagans don’t know the name Edmund “Eddie” Buczynski (aka Minos Gwydion-Hyakinthos), but they should. In the span of only a few years in the 1970s, Eddie established three living traditions of modern neopaganism—the New York Welsh Tradition, the Wica Tradition, and the Minoan Tradition, which includes the Minoan Brotherhood, Minoan Sisterhood, and the Cult of Rhea, or the Cult of the Double Axe. This founding elder stood at the convergence of the hippy culture, gay liberation movement, and the rise of neopaganism in New York City, and took aspects of each to create unique and important contributions to neopagan religion and culture.

In this episode of Eat My Pagan Ass, Luckylicious interviews special guest Michael G. Lloyd (aka Garan Du), a Minoan high priest, co-founder of the Between the Worlds men’s gathering, and author of Bull of Heaven: The Mythic Life of Eddie Buczynski and the Rise of the New York Pagan, a book that some consider the sequel to Margot Adler's seminal history on neopaganism, Drawing Down the Moon (Ms. Adler provides the foreword to Bull of Heaven). As Michael shares in this episode, researching Eddie’s life and its impact on neopaganism was a labor of love that put him in touch with many of our community’s most respected and well-known leaders. As a spiritual descendant of Eddie’s work, Michael hopes that through this book more neopagans will become familiar with Eddie, a man he calls “the Gerald Gardner of the gay pagan community.”

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